


The Candle is Lit

by Talliya



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Blind!Ignis, Defensive Best Friends, Gifit Fic, M/M, Massive Misunderstandings, New Year’s Celebration, Promnis Holiday Exchange 2020, Prompto’s POV, World of Ruin/Darkness, hurt/comfort ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:42:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talliya/pseuds/Talliya
Summary: Ignis and Prompto have been together for a while, and Prompto finally asks a question that’s been bugging him. Only Ignis doesn’t give him an answer at all. It takes the formally lazy Prince’s return to finally fix things.
Relationships: Promnis, Prompto Argentum/Ignis Scientia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27
Collections: Promnis Holiday Exchange





	The Candle is Lit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EzraTheBlue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/gifts).



> I do not own any rights to Final Fantasy XV(15) or its characters. This work is not for profit.
> 
> My pinch-hit for the lovely Blue, as both their original creators had to drop from the Promnis Holiday Exchange 2020 event.
> 
> I’m so very sorry there’s so much hurt in this. I’m not sure what happened. But I was trying to go along with the ‘lighting a candle’ idea that’d been bandied about by the most recent creator... and this happened.
> 
> And yes, I made the New Year’s eve the longest night of the year.

According to the time wizards who kept track of the time once the sun was blotted from the sky, it was once again time for the new year. Prompto shook his head, he understood why people wanted to keep up the traditions... but this one. This one made him age several years instead of just the one it represented every time it happened. There had been seven of them so far in the total blackness that they had collectively taken to calling The Dark and others - mostly Hunters and former Kingsglaive members who went out into it all the time - called it the World of Ruin. Both were accurate, Prompto preferred calling it The Dark though. It made it seem somehow less terrible than it was. This tradition of coming together to light a candle in the hopes the sun would rise again in the morning... it just made him feel so _OLD_. It had taken on a whole new tone with The Dark enveloping them. It wasn’t just the longest night of the year anymore, it was a waning hope that the sun would ever come back. And it was one more year without his best friend.

He managed not to grumble a whole lot though, as Ignis seemed to enjoy this holiday more than any of the others that the people of Eos had been striving to keep afloat while they struggled to survive at all. And Prompto would do literally anything for Ignis, anything. He’d fallen that hard in the years since Noctis had disappeared. He’d always had a bit of a crush, but it definitely quickly spiraled into more. Prompto would sometimes send a random text to Noctis, updating him on certain things. Like when he’d started dating Ignis, whenever Gladiolus had a new girlfriend, when Iris got her first boyfriend and Gladiolus flipped out until she kicked his butt. That had been some quality entertainment. Prompto and Ignis had stood off to the side as Iris introduced the young man and Prompto had described the looks on their faces to Ignis so it matched what he could hear going on. Good times.

Back to this holiday though, Prompto wasn’t sure what Ignis even got out of it, he could guess, but he’d never actually asked. He knew Ignis could feel the heat from the candles, fires, and radiators. But the fluorescent lighting in cities did nothing for him. Prompto thought that maybe the action of lighting a candle for hope; hope that the sun would return to warm them again, hope that Noctis would return to them, hope that they would all survive this - was the real reason Ignis was so adamant about this one tradition. Again, he’d never asked though. The answer seemed somehow private and while he had been dating Ignis for two years now, he still felt like he shouldn’t intrude on the man’s private thoughts. It was just some invisible barrier he couldn’t make himself cross.

So, he wasn’t really sure what prompted him this year, but as they lit their candles and placed them on the mantle of their shared apartment’s fireplace, he finally asked. “Why... why is this holiday so important to you Ignis?”

The blind man faltered momentarily, like Prompto had pushed him. Prompto was glad he had already placed his candle down so he couldn’t burn himself with dipping hot wax from startling like that. Prompto reached out a hand to steady him, and Ignis froze. Prompto immediately retracted his hand and even took a step back, the backs of his legs brushing the couch, frightened that he’d done something terribly wrong.

“I... Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” Prompto rushed to say, blushing in shame that he’d upset his boyfriend on the one day a year the man actually smiled without a joke being cracked. Except, now he didn’t know what to do. He felt trying to leave the room would make it worse, but he didn’t want to sit down and pretend nothing had happened either.

Ignis took the decision from him by leaving the room himself. He headed down the short hallway to their bedroom and came back a few minutes later, Prompto still standing in the same spot, his heart sinking into his knees. He watched as Ignis finished buttoning his coat and tying his scarf in place, he watched as the man picked up his keys from the side table, and left the apartment. He couldn’t even whimper. He didn’t think a simple question could ruin everything so badly that Ignis wouldn’t even speak to him, didn’t tell him it was nothing, or maybe even answer the question he’d asked. Just, total silence. Yet, apparently it had.

Prompto jumped some unknown time later as his phone rang, he hadn’t even realized he’d sunk to sitting on the couch. He pulled his phone out and didn’t even check to see who was calling before hitting the connect button. Then Gladiolus was yelling at him. Accusing him of making Ignis cry...

“Why the hell is my best friend CRYING Argentum?!” The phone slipped from Prompto’s fingers and tears streamed unchecked down his own face. He stared over at the two candles slowly melting on the mantle, their flickering blurred to simple orange movements. He left the phone where it landed, uncaring that Gladiolus was now even louder, and missing when a truly concerned Iris called out asking if Prompto was alright. None of it mattered.

Obviously he’d missed something. Something vital, and he didn’t deserve to be here anymore. He stood up, blinked the tears from his eyes so he could focus and made sure the candles were in no danger of burning anything down should no one be around. He moved to their bedroom and packed a bag, taking only what he knew was necessary to survive in the endless cold that had become their world over the last several years. He cleaned up everything from their dinner, putting leftovers away and washing the dishes. He made sure all the laundry was dry and then he checked the time on the watch Ignis had given him for his birthday that year. He swallowed hard, looked at the now puttering candles and knew. Ignis wasn’t returning to him. However, all of Ignis’ things were here, he’d need to come back eventually.

So, instead of kissing Ignis and making wishes for the new year as he had done for the last two, he blew a kiss to the apartment itself as he locked the door behind him. He left his key to the place with the apartment building’s manager and walked off into the cold, tears blurring his vision again.

* * *

Prompto stayed out of towns as much as he could, camping out by himself and only helping other hunters if it seemed like they actually needed it. He couldn’t even tell himself he wasn’t hiding. He tried not to keep track of time, it helped that he had left his phone in the apartment, but he kept the watch and took to looking at it repeatedly throughout the ‘day’. The only real downside to his phone being somewhere else was that now neither Noctis nor Cindy could reach him if they needed him. To that end, Prompto kept his wanderings mostly in the area between Hammerhead and Galdin Quay. He didn’t want to miss if and when his best friend came back, and he enjoyed being able to help Cindy out. It was the only time he got any news about Ignis, Gladiolus, Iris, Talcott, or Cor. And while he had basically run away and ‘turned his back on them’, he still very much cared how they were doing and wanted them all to be safe.

It was on one such trip to the garage that Prompto’s life changed drastically yet again. Cindy came at him as he came inside the fence, her face an angry mask. She thrust his phone at him and slapped him in the face; told him he needed to leave. Prompto blinked, his stomach growled loudly as he smelled the food cooking at Takka’s - where he’d hoped to eat today, and have actual food for once - but he turned around and walked away.

He went to the nearest haven and sat among the runes staring dumbly at his phone. Where did she even get it from? Why was she so angry? She sent a hunter out to ask him to come by, said she had something only he could do. He figured she needed something sniped at... Well, he already knew his assumptions on things were very obviously wrong. He turned the screen on and there were months of unopened messages. Texts from Cor, Cindy, Talcott, Iris, Gladiolus, Cid, Vyv, Libertus and even a few from Holly. He hung his head. He really should have at least tried to go back for his phone.

He read or listened to Iris’ messages first, guilt wrenching in his gut. She was so worried about him, and about Ignis. Fuck, what had he done to Ignis? Why couldn’t he do anything right?! Next was Talcott’s, more of the same. Each person’s messages seemed to peeter out after they’d learned he didn’t have his phone. Gladiolus’ messages were by far the worst, he was pretty sure the big guy hated him now. At the end of all of it, from Gladiolus’ phone, there was a recorded message from Ignis. It was Ignis looking sightlessly at the camera, no glasses on his face, no tears or pain in his expression asking Prompto why he left.

Prompto broke. He sat there and cried for hours. He woke to someone shaking him gently, a familiar rumble in his ears calling his name. He blinked blearily, registering the cold before his brain provided a name for the voice. He sat up straight with a start, muscles sore from laying flopped over on the cold stone out in the open on the haven’s top. “Noctis?”

“Heh, man, why are you out here? And why is everyone mad at you?” Noctis was scraggly looking, beard and hair long, he looked leaner than he had been but otherwise the same.

“Holy fuck, is this real?!” Noctis rolled his eyes at him and leaned forward to pinch his cold cheeks. “Ow! I’m... I’m not dreaming. You’re really here? Why are you here? How do you know everyone’s mad at me? **I** just learned that EVERYONE was mad at me.”

Noctis snorted, “Well, I came out of Angelgard and Umbra was there, led me to the boat and I drove it to Galdin Quay, got picked up by Talcott. Boy did he get tall.” Noctis shook his head with a smile, “He brought me to Hammerhead, apparently he was in the middle of a delivery for Cindy. We arrived and while everyone was excited and happy to see me, Talcott made sure to call Gladiolus and Ignis and everyone about it... but I asked about you. And well, everyone’s faces dropped. For half a second I thought you’d died while I was in the Crystal. But then Cindy exploded about how you’d hurt Iggy and she’d never forgive you.”

Prompto went through a whole gambit of emotions as his best friend spoke, shame being the foremost and continuous. He ducked his head and hot tears slid down his cheeks again. He’d thought he was all cried out, but apparently not.

“And since the last text I got from you, thank you for those by the way, was several years ago before the new year... and everything was fine, you were even thinking of proposing... What the fuck happened?” Noctis reached over and lifted his chin to make Prompto look at him as he asked.

Noctis’ face was blurry and Prompto didn’t bother to blink the tears away, he hiccupped and sniffled before starting his explanation. He started with how he’d always felt that there was a part of Ignis that he couldn’t reach, a part Ignis kept away from him on purpose. It was why he always hesitated about asking the man to marry him, he didn’t want to shackle him to him if there was any indication that Ignis wouldn’t want to stay. Noctis’ compassionate expression and sympathy as he explained his feelings lifted a weight from Prompto that he hadn’t realized he’d had. When he got to the New Year’s celebration... he paused. He swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut, he was sure Noctis of all people would know how he’d screwed up. Maybe he could tell him where no one else would explain? Or perhaps he’d just be angry with him like everyone else. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then took another, “I just asked him why the holiday was so important to him. He froze up, so I took it back, said he didn’t have to answer. He left the apartment. Apparently went to Gladio’s. I got a call from him later about how I’d made Ignis cry. I just kind of shut down, must have been when I dropped my phone. When I pulled myself together a bit, I made sure everything was good to go, then packed what I needed and left. I figured I probably wouldn’t be welcome there anymore.”

Noctis had dropped his chin when he mentioned what he’d asked Ignis, so Prompto figured he did in fact know what Prompto had done wrong. Prompto buried his head in his arms, unwilling to see the same kind of anger on his best friend’s face.

“He didn’t explain himself at all? Even in all this time?” Noctis’ voice was barely controlled rage.

Prompto flinched and shook his head. “No, no one but Cindy’s tried to talk to me at all. And the last message on my phone was from Gladio’s, but it was a video message from Ignis, asking me why I’d left.”

“I’m gonna kill him.” Noctis whispered, and then his arms were around Prompto, hugging him close. “I can’t believe they’d just let you stew like that. As if you’d know when they’ve never explained.”

“Explained what exactly?” Prompto leaned into his friend, thankful for the comfort and his warmth.

“Ignis has always taken the New Year seriously because it was the one night a year his mother and father were home. They died shortly before you joined our group, a car crash out in Liede. But, he has very fond memories of it and uses it as a way to honor and remember them, as well as bring in the new year.” Noctis’ voice rumbled through him as he spoke over his head.

“Oh. But... why would he be so upset?” Prompto was so confused.

He felt Noctis shaking his head where his chin rested on his own, “I’m not really sure. It could just be all the memories it brings up, but I have a feeling it’s more because you had to ask and didn’t just _know_ already. Which is just ridiculous.”

Prompto took a shuddering breath and cuddled into Noctis more. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh hush, you’ve nothing to be sorry about.” Noctis grumbled and held him a little tighter, “Come on, I could hear your stomach from Hammerhead. Let’s go back over there and get some food and get warm. We can wait for the others to show up, and then I get to give them a Royal piece of my mind.”

Noctis chuckled and stood up, holding a hand out for Prompto. Prompto accepted it, picked up his phone and pack, and walked side by side with his best friend back to Hammerhead. It was rather serendipitous. Cindy probably would have stopped him from entering again but Noctis gave her a glare reminiscent of Ignis and she huffed back to the garage.

Prompto trained his eyes on the ground, unsure of his reception from anyone now, and simply wanting the ground to swallow him whole.

As they sat down in a booth Noctis bumped his shoulder, “Hey, no wishing to disappear. I’ve already done that, for ten years apparently. You’re not allowed just because I’m back.”

Prompto snorted, “We’ll see.”

They ate quietly, and simply sat catching up in the warmth of Takka’s shop. A few hours later Gladiolus and Ignis came through the door with a cold breeze. Prompto made himself as small as possible and hid behind Noctis as the latter raised a hand in greeting. When Noctis stood to give out hugs Prompto shrank further into his seat and stared at the tabletop.

Unfortunately Gladiolus noticed him. “What’s he doing here?”

Prompto flinched, but his head whipped around to look as he heard two identical smacks. He found that both Noctis and Ignis had hit the taller man, and Gladiolus looked nearly as shocked as Prompto felt.

“Don’t you EVER speak about my Best Friend that way again Gladiolus. I literally cannot fucking believe you two. Honestly, how the fuck is he supposed to know unless he asks-” Here Noctis turned his angry gaze from Gladiolus to Ignis, “-and you actually EXPLAIN it to him?”

Ignis hung his head, and Gladiolus simply looked confused. “Wait, what is going on? Prompto just up and fucking left and you’re defending him?!”

“He didn’t “just up and leave”. Ignis did.” Noctis crossed his arms over his chest and glared at them. “Prompto asked him why New Year’s was so important to him... and he clammed up and fucking left.”

Gladiolus closed his eyes and groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “So... Prom felt he didn’t deserve to be there anymore because obviously he’d missed something ‘obvious’... when it wasn’t at all, just the rest of us already knew and didn’t bother talking about it.”

Prompto’s voice was small when he spoke, “I never meant to hurt you Ignis, I’m sorry I made you cry.”

As if his speaking allowed Ignis to know exactly where he was (because OF COURSE it did, the man he loved was that awesome), Ignis knelt on the seat Noctis had vacated and reached out to place his hands on either side of Prompto’s face. “You don’t need to apologize, my love. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. It took me a while to realize we’d never explained it to you, there wasn’t really a reason until we were celebrating it together. And you always seemed to hate it so much.”

Prompto covered Ignis’ hands with his own. “I did kind of hate it. It made me feel far older than I am, knowing there was one more whole year of this darkness, it was depressing. I’m sorry.”

Ignis shook his head, “If I’d just shared with you why I enjoyed it, we could have been making new memories to enjoy instead of you feeling so out of place.”

Gladiolus made a choking sound and Prompto looked over in time to see Noctis punch him in the stomach.

Ignis sighed, “Just because you can’t settle down and be in love with someone Gladiolus doesn’t mean we’re being overly cute.”

Prompto gave an ‘ah ha’ look and leaned forward to kiss Ignis’ cheek. Ignis it seemed had other ideas though, and using his hands on Prompto’s face, moved him so their lips met instead.

“Can you forgive me Prompto? For leaving you out like that, and for not trying to find you when you left?” Ignis’ voice was gentle, hopeful.

“I don’t know, can you forgive me for... well, being me?” Prompto winced.

“Always, I love you for being you after all.” Ignis smiled at him.

“I love you too, Ignis. And I can absolutely forgive you.” Prompto smiled as Ignis sat and cuddled into him.

“Good, because it’s been far too hard trying to live without you.”

Noctis snorted, “Okay, now THAT’S sappy.”

“Oh hush.” Prompto and Ignis said in unison. They still had a long way to go; needing to bring back the light with Noctis, as well as figure themselves out. For now however, life was good again. And perhaps when the New Year rolled around next, there would only be happy tears.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope this isn't terrible. If you'd like something from one of your other prompts, please just let me know, I will deliver Blue.


End file.
